


Gingerbread

by cherryblossomphil



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas traditions, Family, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 09:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8974939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryblossomphil/pseuds/cherryblossomphil
Summary: Mrs. Lester lets Dan in on a few Lester family traditions;  a little peek into Dan’s first Christmas with the Lesters





	

**Author's Note:**

> happy holidays, everyone! here’s a quick lil blurb about Dan visiting the Lesters for Christmas, because i absolutely adore Mrs. Lester and i need more Dan and Katherine interaction in my life.

There’s a smear of green frosting on his sleeve.

Dan swipes it off with his finger, popping it into his mouth. He groans, eyes rolling back as Mrs. Lester turns around with two mugs of mulled wine.

“Good, isn’t it?”

Dan nods enthusiastically. “Delicious.” He wipes his finger across his jeans before accepting one of the cups. “How do you _make_ that?”

“Ooh, it’s an old family recipe,” she tuts, pursing her lips. “Top secret. Very complicated.”

Dan cocks an eyebrow. A beat of silence, and then…

“Oh, alright,” Mrs. Lester sighs.  “It’s a Mary Berry recipe with twice the butter and a dash of cinnamon.”

Dan’s laugh is loud and bright. He raises up his mug. “God bless the British Bake-Off.”

Mrs. Lester smiles, clinking his cup with hers. “The true savior of the Christmas season.”  

The kitchen almost looks like the set of a Hallmark movie. A wreath of candles decorates the table, surrounded by packages of Christmas crackers and stacks of fancy dinnerware to be used for tomorrow’s dinner. Fairy lights hang from the curtain rods - blues and reds and greens bounce off the window panes. From a speaker on top of the microwave, Bing Crosby dreams of a White Christmas.

Everything smells like cinnamon and vanilla and _warm_ \- the kind of warmth Dan’s come to associate with the Lesters themselves. He’s surrounded by a haze of coziness and contentment and pure, unbridled joy. It’s almost suffocating; Dan can’t get enough of it.

Phil’s been put in charge of decorating the Christmas tree, so Dan’s on gingerbread duty with his mum.

“It’s been tradition since he left for uni,” Mrs. Lester explains, stirring another three drops of blue food coloring into the icing. “You know how Phil gets about Christmas. He was always the one nagging us about when we were going to start decorating for the holidays. So once the two of them had gone, Dad and I started holding off on the tree until they came back from break. Bit of a nice way to wrap up the year, I think.”

There’s a loud _clatter_ from the lounge, followed by a grumbled “ _Martyn…”_ and a sheepish apology. Mrs. Lester sighs and takes another drink.

Dan chuckles, adding little red buttons to his gingerbread elf. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Phil gets a bit stir-crazy if we haven’t put up the decorations by the fifteenth. We’ve started dedicating a whole day to it.” A thought crosses his mind, and he stops mid-belt buckle. “Wait, hang on. Phil got back yesterday.” Dan had had two more gamingmas videos to edit at home, so Phil went ahead up North the night before. 

“Mhm.” “Phil’s mum dips a broken gingerbread into the icing, coating it generously.

“And they didn’t set up the Christmas tree?”

Mrs. Lester looks at him. “Well, love, they weren’t going to start until you arrived, of course. We can’t put up the tree until the whole family’s here.” She pops the cookie in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “It’s so nice to finally have everyone here for the holidays…”

Dan’s barely paying attention.

_Family._

_They consider him family._

Of course they consider him family. He already knew they considered him family. But that doesn’t stop his heart from clenching painfully – a good kind of pain that kinda makes him want to cry and kinda makes him want to vomit. There’s a Grinch metaphor nagging at his subconscious but Mrs. Lester’s voice pulls him back.

“So, any plans for the new year?”

Dan glances at her, startled. “Sorry?”  

She scoops the icing into the piping bag, twisting it off at the top. “Twenty-sixteen was a bit of a milestone wasn’t it? Monumental. So what does the next year have in store for you two?”

“Oh,” Dan clears his throat. He squeezes out a bit more frosting and adds two little flowers on his elf’s trousers. “We’ve got some stuff planned out. A couple of sponsorships. Vidcon and Summer in the City. There’s a new hosting gig with the BBC that we’ve got in the works but don’t tell anyone yet…”

To her credit, Mrs. Lester pretends to be interested. “Ooh, exciting. That’s very nice, dear,” she muses, icing a snowflake. “But… what’s in store… for _you two?”_

_Oh._

The kitchen suddenly gets much warmer. Dan swallows thickly, throat sticking as if he’d eaten an entire spoonful of the icing in his hands.

“We’ve talked about it,” he says finally. “Now that TATINOF and everything is over, and we finally have time to catch our breath. We’ve slowly been testing the waters a bit more in our videos.”

“I’ve noticed.” There’s a twinkle in her eye. Dan blushes, looking down.

“Yeah. But, I mean, we’ve still got a few projects coming up. Plus we’ve been thinking about getting a dog, and we’re still looking for a new place, and there’s still so much we have to sort out. It’ll be a while until we can really…” He trails off, blinking a few times.

Dan can hear Phil laughing in the other room. It’s his loud, high-pitched laugh – the laugh that starts low in his chest then bursts out until he’s grasping his sides and sticking his tongue out. The laugh that only comes out when Phil is really, truly happy.

Dan’s favorite laugh.

He looks back at Mrs. Lester. There’s a knowing smile on her face.

“Soon,” he murmurs, more to himself than to her. “It’ll be soon.”

Mrs. Lester sets down her icing and cups his face. “Oh, Daniel…” she brushes his bangs back. “Just make sure to sit us by Auntie Sarah. She loves a good wedding.”

“What does Auntie Sarah love?”

Mrs. Lester pulls back as Phil bounces into the kitchen, a trail of tinsel and glitter in his wake. He slides across the tile and wraps his arms around Dan’s waist.

Dan and Mrs. Lester share a look. “Gingerbread cookies,” He answers quickly, picking up his half-finished elf. “Especially ones with icing made from the secret Lester family recipe.”

Phil’s eyes narrow. “Dan, you do know that recipe is just a Mary Berry-“

“Ah-ah-ah!” Dan shoves the cookie into Phil’s mouth, snorting as the older man stumbles back. He grabs his mulled wine and smirks. “It’s called a secret for a reason, Philip.”

Mrs. Lester raises her own mug. “It’s meant to be kept.”

Dan winks at her. She smiles.

Phil looks at them suspiciously. “What are you two up to?”

Dan laughs, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Nothing,“ he answers. “Happy Christmas, Phil.”


End file.
